Matthew Lillard had never heard of "The Bridge" when his friend Annabeth Gish, who plays widow Charlotte Millwright on the show, encouraged him to audition for it last year.

Now, with two episodes left in the summer run of FX's El Paso-Juárez thriller that airs Wednesday nights, Lillard has not one but two scenes he thinks are among the best of his more than 20-year career.

One was near the end of the pilot episode, which premiered on July 10. Lillard, 43, plays sleazy El Paso Times reporter Daniel Frye, who has been locked inside his own car by an unseen serial killer intent on blowing him to bits. Or so he thinks.

The tension becomes almost unbearable as the bomb's timer ticks down to zero. Instead of an explosion, the car's doors unlock. Relieved, Lillard's sniveling Frye looks like he's about to relieve himself.

The other was in the 10th of the series' 13 episodes, which aired Sept. 11. First, a detoxed Frye admits his role in the deaths of the serial killer's wife and son. But he falls off the wagon, admits to a fellow reporter that she's his only friend, cracks wise at his first AA meeting, then dissolves into tears.

It "is the best acting I've ever done," said the Michigan-born, Southern California-raised Lillard, best known for his appearances in the "Scream" movies and for playing the hippiefied Shaggy in the critically reviled live-action "Scooby-Doo" movies (he still voices the character for cartoons and videos).

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For Lillard, playing what Rolling Stone described as "a loathsome, substance-abusing reporter" on "The Bridge" has given him "the opportunity to do what (I've) learned over the last 20 years."

"It is always the thing that you never expect to make a difference in your life that does," he said.

"I think the thing that will blow me up is never that thing. The 'Scooby-Doo' movie, in my mind, was going to put me on top of the list, and obviously, it threw me under the bus."

But it took reading "that last scene in the pilot" for him to get involved. As for that AA scene a couple of weeks ago, Lillard said that's "when that little piece of magic happened."

Critics and cast members agree. TVline.com singled him out as its "Performer of the Week. "Lillard's two scenes this week were the gin-soaked cherry on top of a terrific season of work," the website raved.

It's hard to argue with that. In a season filled with strong, challenging performances by the likes of co-stars Demian Bechir and Diane Kruger, Lillard has distinguished himself as a can't miss cast member, making Frye compelling, enimgmatic and unlikable, yet sympathetic. He's also funny.

Lillard, who follows the Twitter account of El Paso Times police reporter Daniel Borunda, didn't base Frye on anyone in particular, much less a journalist.

"I knew addicts. I know guys who are bright and smart and I know the dark side of myself," he said. "You put that together, pull on your imagination and what you have inside of you, pull on examples in the world, and build something three-dimensional.

"On top of it, we have great writing, and the character, over 13 episodes, has a huge arc. As the story goes on, I go deeper and deeper and struggle and struggle."

As an actor who has worked in movies since 1991 -- and acted, produced and directed his own award-winning film "Fat Kids Rule the World" -- Lillard thinks TV is in a new "golden age" and wanted to be a part of it. He welcomed the chance to flesh out a complex character over three months of shows.

"There's an opportunity to flex your muscles over 13 episodes, with change and growth and mountains and valleys," he said. "They utilize that with my character in a really great way."

He likes that Frye can be corrosive, uncaring and mean, but smart and bitingly funny. The bigger goal, he said, is to put meat on the bone of a character -- seen on life support in last week's episode -- who goes through a transformation.

"I'm a character on TV who, because he starts out so diabolical in a way, has got a journey to go on toward redemption," he said. "Whether he goes there or not is yet to be determined. I will say as the show goes on I get to do really great things as an actor, stretch and go for a challenge."

Lillard didn't know when we talked if the show would be renewed for a second season next year. But, with strong ratings -- it's averaging about 1.7 million viewers each week -- and good reviews, he was optimistic.

"I think it's relatively successful. Hopefully, next year it will come back and we'll get more of it," he said.

The show completed production in late July. The last episode airs Oct. 2. FX hasn't announced yet if it will pick up the series for a second season.

Lillard, who grew up in Orange County, won't comment on the politics of immigration, human-trafficking and other border-related issues raised in the show.

"The reality is I'm an actor. The political side of it, the sociological side of it, any actor that speaks to it doesn't really know and is an idiot," he said. "I'm not that much of an idiot."

Anecdotally, he said, the reactions to how well or poorly the show depicts those issues depends on who he talks to.

"The show hits on something," Lillard said, "because I'll walk down the street and I get a sense from the man on the street that we're either right on the button or not even close."

The 6-foot-4-inch actor, who's married with three kids, has several projects in the works, including "National Lampoon Presents: Surf Party," and next year's "Match."

He obviously knows that in a career where he's had fewer good movies, like "The Descendants," than bad ones, like the direct-to-video "Pool Boys," the work he's doing in "The Bridge" -- especially those scenes in the Sept. 11 episode -- could boost his career.

"Hopefully, they choose that when I'm in the memorial on the Academy Awards," he said, "not 'Pool Boys.'"

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